My initial attraction to volcanoes was for their natural beauty and my fascination for them as a dramatic force of nature; over the years, it also became about culture, history and science.
For the last 30 years many of my travel destinations have been volcano-related. It all started with my first visit to an active volcano in Washington State (USA) in 1993.
Having a travel theme is great and I can highly recommend one. Besides giving focus to which places to visit next, it encourages you to learn more about your destinations. Once I became passionate about volcanoes, every trip I learned new things and got a more in-depth understanding. This extra knowledge helped me enjoy these trips even more, making my visits to volcanoes a richer experience.
The Cascade Volcanoes
It was during my visit to the Cascades mountain range (part of the famous Ring of Fire) that I was blown away (figuratively) by Mount St. Helens. I was in awe of the aftermath of the famous 1980 eruption where nearly 388 square kilometers of forest was blown over. The sterile ash landscape that remained resembled being on the moon. It would become a visit that kicked off my passion for volcanoes and started my theme to travel the world to visit other volcanoes and learn more about them.
When visiting Mount St. Helens, it is obvious that one is looking at an active volcano. You see a mountain with a gaping (sometimes still smoking) hole in the middle and everywhere is evidence of its recent history as a volcano. That is not the case when you look at another Cascade beauty that is currently listed in the top 10 most dangerous volcanoes in the world: Mount Rainier, where approximately 80,000 people and their homes are at risk.
The danger is due to the ice and snow on top of the mountain. When the ice and snow melts, during a future eruption, a large destructive volcanic mudflow, or lahar, is likely to occur. The worst natural disaster of its kind happened when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Tolima, Columbia in 1985. This sad moment in modern history is known as the Armero Tragedy, when 23,000 people were killed by the lahars, despite Armero being 74 km (!) down-valley from the volcano.
My favourite volcano destination:
The Hawaiian Islands
The island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, is the youngest of the eight main Hawaiian islands of this volcanic archipelago.
Kilauea was erupting on all three occasions that I visited the island. Seeing “rope lava” being formed in action and experiencing an active lava flow is amazing.
Whilst the Big Island of Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth where you might be able to experience an active volcano erupting, it is also a fascinating place to learn about volcano-related culture and history.
The indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands have a very rich culture of mythology, music, dance and legends that are largely related to the Hawaiian volcanoes. Madam Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and fire of Hawaii, has endured time and is still very influential in today’s culture. I spent hours at local galleries admiring all sorts of volcano-related works of art.
The Hawaiian language gave name to the two main types of basaltic lava flows, 'a’a and pahoehoe. I love the fact that scientists have adopted those names as the official terms, to highlight the significance of the Hawaiian volcanoes and culture.
Did you know that the largest active volcano on earth (both in mass and volume) is Mauna Loa on the Big Island? Measuring today’s volcano, from the bottom of the ocean´s floor all the way to the summit, it is a cracking 9,170 meters tall. Compare that to Mount Everest at 8,848 meters!
It´s a common trivia question during pub quizzes, so now you know (wink). In fact, Mauna Loa is even taller, as 8 km of the mountain has sunk into the earth’s crust due to its weight.
Volcanologists, like other geologists, are also the planet’s “historians”, frequently looking for evidence from physical remains.
Scientists estimate that Mauna Loa started erupting about 700,000 years ago and probably made it to the surface of the ocean around 400,000 years ago (the official birth of the island). For such a large mountain, that is extremely fast. However, scientists have been able to date almost 200 pre-historical lava flows to support this hypothesis. The most recent eruption of Mauna Loa was very recent: 27th November - 13th December 2022.
It becomes even more mind-blowing when you realize that the current Hawaiian islands are part of a larger chain of now extinct volcanoes. These have now eroded so far that they are no longer above sea level, but exist as a chain of sea-mounts. On the young end of the chain, there is already a new future island in the making, south-east of Hawaii. One day, this baby volcano will replace the Big Island as the centre of activity. It is called Loihi and is still 1 km below the ocean’s surface. It is already on Google Maps, but don’t go booking your vacation there just yet.
At the same time, the Big Island is still growing. If you look at the oldest island in the current Hawaiian chain, the small island of Kuau’i with its steep, eroded cliffs, you can see what lies ahead for Mauna Loa and the Big Island. It is all part of the life cycle.
There is one volcano that I visited that is probably among the least visited by other people, let alone tourists…
The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes
In a very remote area in Alaska, now known as the Katmai National Park and Preserve, is a volcanic vent called Novarupta. This volcano is known for the largest eruption (in volume) of the 20th century. It erupted in 1912.
The National Geographic Society sent scientist Robert Fiske Griggs with a team of explorers on an expedition to the region in the summer of 1917. They took many samples and surveyed the area over a period of several summers, to understand what had happened.
I explored this historic site, 95 years after the eruption, going with a private guide trained in survival due to the potentially extreme conditions we could encounter. It was 2007 and although the valley was no longer smoking, the remaining Novarupta dome was still steaming in places. We stayed several nights at two very basic huts, used by volcanologists that study the area; in itself a memorable experience. It was a huge adventure.
Exploring the inhospitable landscape in the valley, barren from plants, was no walk in the park. At many places the ash was almost impossible to walk through. They were probably the deepest footprints I ever left behind on a trip.
Italy: the cradle of volcanology
All volcanoes are named after Mount Vulcano, which is part of the Aeolian archipelago, not far off the north-east coast of Sicily (Italy). Here lives Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology.
Close by is another Aeolian island, called Stromboli. Mount Stromboli is also known as the ‘Mediterranean lighthouse´. It was given this nickname because of its regular eruptions for over 2,000 years. The first time I visited the island, Stromboli erupted on average every 3 - 4 minutes! (every 20 - 30 is more typical). It is relatively easy to access and allows you to see eruptions as close as 200 meters away, in relatively safe conditions. Scientists have named a type of eruption after the typical behaviour of this volcano, called Strombolian eruptions.
Pliny the Younger, from the Bay of Naples and a Roman author and lawyer, is seen by some as the first volcanologist in that he was the first to accurately record the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in detail. The type of eruption that he witnessed and described in letters sent in 104 AD to the historian Tacitus, is now called a Plinian eruption by volcanologists. Novarupta’s eruption in 1912 (see above) was a Plinian eruption.
The Vesuvius Observatory, was the first observatory of its kind in the world and was built in 1841. To this day, Italian volcanologists are still very influential around the world.
Lakagígar - Iceland
Iceland is another of my favourite volcano destinations. It is probably known by most people for the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which caused more than 100,000 flights to be canceled, and affected 10 million passengers. It is one of the few volcanoes where I have walked around both before and after an historic eruption.
Personally, I found the historic site of the Lakagígar eruptions way more impressive. As you can see from the photo below this is very different from what most people expect a volcano to look like.
On 8th June 1783, a 27-km long fissure opened and started to erupt. The 8-month eruption started with violent phreatomagmatic explosions (where magma and water interact explosively) and evolved into a Strombolian, and later Hawaiian eruptions. However, the biggest impact was caused by poisonous gas emissions, mostly sulphur dioxide, which lead to acid rain.
The Laki Haze destroyed crops and thereby killed both large numbers of people and livestock in Iceland and Europe. But the huge amount of volcanic gases also contributed to a severe (but thankfully, short-lived) climate change over much of the world, killing many people. Crops failed, creating poverty and famine. Historians believe that the Laki eruptions may have contributed to the cause of the French Revolution in 1789.
There are many organised tours that take tourists to the volcano. Be prepared for a long and uncomfortable jeep ride through beautiful Icelandic wilderness (unless they have upgraded the road since I visited in 1995).
Volcanoes and Tourism
Safety First
Active volcanoes in an eruptive state can obviously be very dangerous. But as with many things in life, it is all about taking well-informed, calculated risks. There are certain types of eruptions that you can experience up close (in some cases, as close as only meters away) that I wouldn´t consider much more dangerous than walking on rough, non-volcanic terrain. On the other hand, there are types of eruptions that I would not even wish to be 50 km away from, when they occur. Information and understanding is key.
Without getting into any of the science, we can divide volcanoes into two groups. The ones that erupt violently and create large ash clouds, dangerous hot avalanches (pyroclastic flows) and sometimes volcanic mudflows (lahars). These are called ‘grey volcanoes’.
And then there are the ones that are far less dangerous, that create spectacular lava flows and lava fountains. We call them: ‘red volcanoes’.
There are many safe volcanoes around the world that you can visit up close, but remember: even an extinct volcano is usually a mountain, which presents its own risks. Then there are many volcanoes that are considered dormant. This means that they have not erupted for some time, but are expected to do so again. As long as these mountains show no signs of underground activity, they are usually not going to erupt, though there are rare exceptions of volcanoes erupting with few warning signs. The trick is to inform yourself about the character of the mountain you are visiting.
All erupting volcanoes that I have visited were already erupting before I went there. In other words, the type of eruption was already established and one kind of knew what to expect. In addition, danger zones are usually quickly established, so unless you enter forbidden areas, you should be relatively safe.
Having said that, the scientists don´t always get it right (around 30 of them have been killed on the job in the last 60 years) and with hindsight and greater knowledge now, I did gamble a couple of times with my life during the early days.
Arenal - Costa Rica
In 1998 I visited this famous volcano, a major tourist attraction in the region. Arenal is a grey volcano. At the time, I was not as well-informed as I should have been (something there is no excuse for in the internet age). Although hot lava rocks the size of cars were continuously rolling down a particular slope and were falling apart into smaller pieces in one of the most spectacular firework shows I have ever seen, I never felt unsafe. There was clearly an established side of the mountain where the rocks came down.
Sleeping at a campsite on a different slope of the same volcano, we were in a lush green area by a lake and there were no boulders or lava bombs to be seen of recent eruptions. At night though, being able to hear the boulders roll down the mountain whilst in my sleeping bag in a tent, I did get a little nervous. It sounded rather close by, but sound travels well at night. The next day we did a hike on a recommended trail that took us through a jungle close to the edge of the active slope of the mountain. Remember, this was 1998.
In August 2000 a large eruption occurred creating pyroclastic flows, destroying the jungle I had hiked through and ending only meters away from that campsite by the lake! Sadly, two tourists and a guide got caught in the eruption. The local tour guide and one of the tourists died later in hospital from their burns.
Obviously the campsite has since been closed. The instruments of the local observatory detected an increase in the tremor signals several hours before the first outburst (source: Arenal.net). Yet, this didn´t prevent the victims from going out on the mountain that day, or evacuating the area before the eruption.
For your information, Arenal volcano has not erupted since 2010. This is the first period of dormancy since 1968. The last dormant period lasted 500 years. (John Seach, volcanolive.com)
Whakaari/ White Island - New Zealand
It is not often that I consider myself a thrill seeker, but I vividly remember the excitement when I stepped foot on White Island in December 1996. This active volcano is situated 45 km off the north-east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Again, not an easy place to get to and I remember being sea sick like many other tourists on the outward journey.
Equipped with helmets and gas masks, we knew what we were getting ourselves into. This was a hostile environment. Our tour operator was very serious about safety and there were no signs of elevated volcanic activity. Our biggest risk was gas emissions. As far as I was concerned, the odds were in my favour.
The place was amazing. You are basically standing on the peak of a much larger submarine volcano. Beautiful, yet ominous with the acid lake and hostile atmosphere.
Until the 1930s sulphur was mined and there were several historical, heavily corroded remains scattered over the island. I loved it!
You probably have heard of the tourists and their guides that were not so lucky. A terrible event occurred on 9th December 2019. On the day of the eruption, authorities confirmed 5 people had died while 8 were missing. The death toll rose to 22 fatalities. There were 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption. Only 3 people got away with minor injuries.
Watching the recent Netflix documentary about this tragedy, it was confirmed that there was an elevated level of volcanic activity. Sadly, it appears from the interviews with some of the surviving tourists that they had no idea what risks were involved. The biggest eye-opener for me was the fact that even if you survive an eruption, there is not always a guarantee that you will be rescued. As the documentary shows, conditions may prohibit access by rescuers.
Disaster Tourism
Although visits to places as Pompeii in Italy, are sometimes labeled ‘disaster tourism’, I personally don´t see it that way. I go to Pompeii to see exquisite Roman remains that were preserved thanks to a volcanic eruption. I did not go there to see the place where many people suffered a horrific death almost 2,000 years ago.
I think that the ‘disaster tourism’ label can be relevant when referring to visitors to disaster areas where the crisis is still ongoing. There is an understandable tension concerning whether tourists are welcome or not.
Here are some pro´s and con´s:
- People with cameras blocking the roads, hindering free access to the area needed by rescuers or other people that are trying to help and do their job.
- People (tour companies) making money off the misery of others.
- Tourists putting themselves at risk on top of the already occurring crisis, potentially making things worse.
- Public attention increases the awareness of the crisis and thus the likelihood of aid funding from outside.
- The visiting people contribute to the local economy at a time of need.
- The educational value for visitors that experience the direct aftermath or ongoing disaster firsthand.
There are only two occasions when I was concerned I might be becoming a ‘disaster tourist’ and where I had to consider my own motivations carefully before I went there, and I shall end this piece with a short account of each.
Monserrat - Caribbean
This beautiful island featured in many documentaries on the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel that I watched on TV. The eruption started in 1995 and most of the islanders had been forced to leave. Two-thirds of the island was still evacuated at the time of my visit in the year 2000.
It was very much like a war zone, people were getting on with their lives, yet some of the remaining islanders were still living in temporary accommodation and while the eruption pattern was established after more than 4 years, there was still danger of escalation. The devastation in the worst-affected areas, including the capital, was something I had never seen before.
As a volcanophile I had never before focused on the loss of human lives, the destruction of people´s property, infrastructure and economy. It was a planned experience: not only to see the beautiful, ‘romantic’ side of my hobby: I felt it was appropriate to also experience the dark side of this force of nature.
It was an experience I shall never forget. I got to meet the people that were living it (including several that featured in the TV documentaries), most of who were the most hospitable people I am ever likely to encounter. I explored some buildings in the devastated areas (then accessible only during daylight), almost like walking into an episode of The Twilight Zone: an abandoned scene where people had dropped everything and left their things behind as they had run for safety, in most cases, around 3 years before.
The Soufrière Hills volcano is still active, although currently it is mostly producing ash that rarely affects other areas than the ones that are still evacuated. It was only last year (2022) that the government started building a new town, to replace the completely destroyed capital. I guess we should be able to follow their progress on Google Maps!
La Palma - Canary Islands (Spain)
From September 19th until December 13th 2021 a new volcano erupted on the island of La Palma. It has since been named Tajogaite, but is still known by most people as the recent Cumbra Vieja eruption.
I live on the neighboring island Tenerife and was keen to witness the eruption in person. I had seen lots of video footage online of the devastation on the island. Sadly, many beautiful historic houses were destroyed and many people lost their house and belongings. This was not, however, the focus of my visit.
Even after my almost 30 years of experience of visiting volcanoes, including many active ones. I had still not been lucky enough to see a lava fountain in person. I visited the island for a long weekend and was very amazed not only by the fireworks, but also the variety of moods a volcano can exhibit in such a short period.
At the time of my visit, towards the end of November, evacuations were all in place; roadblocks and areas that were off limits were all well established and enforced. There was also an established viewing area used by both locals and tourists alike. The number of tourists on the island was very limited and I never got a feeling that we were “in the way”.
Photo credits: D. Frigo (published with permission)
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